When smartphones first hit the market, the excitement and buzz around the wealth of features and functionality they came with was huge. The pace of change and innovation of devices in these early days was immense, arguably sparked off by the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. Since then, even upgrades of popular models — including the iPhone — have become huge media events in themselves.

However, with increasing competition there has also been increasing pressure for handset makers to pump out more and more devices, resulting in ever-diminishing product life cycles and fewer genuine risks taken.

The result, jumping forwards to 2013 — some might say — is that the recent smartphone offerings being touted by major manufacturers including Apple, Samsung, HTC and others just seem really dull and uninspiring? Think iteration over innovation.

Have they all lost there way or become incapable of innovating, or is the problem that the expectations placed upon them by an increasingly demanding, and knowledgeable, consumer base has caught up with the pace of technological evolution? What we’re asking you, our trusted readers, is are the smartphones of today boring?